Fox Urges Millennials To Go Without Health Insurance In Order To Advance Its Anti-Obamacare Agenda

On Friday, Fox News took its war on the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare") to a whole new, dangerous level when Fox News contributor Guy Benson urged young people to go without health insurance. Host Gretchen Carlson not only helped validate Benson’s idea, she never pointed out the very serious dangers in such a proposition.

In her introduction, Carlson said millennials “may be opting out of” Obamacare because, in addition to the glitches of the roll-out, “It forces young, healthy people to shell out cash they can’t afford for coverage they don’t even use to help older folks who should have money and who actually need the care.”

Not surprisingly, Benson echoed the same message: "If (millennials) say, ‘Forget it I’m going to wait, pay the relatively cheap tax and then if I get sick and if I get into an accident, then the insurers have to take me because I have a pre-existing condition,’ it just makes more sense to do that …from a dollars and cents perspective. I mean, I’m not trying to make a political point there, I’m trying to make an economic point. And a lot of people are realizing that."

While insurers are required to cover people with pre-existing health conditions under the ACA, coverage isn’t available all the time. Those seeking insurance through the exchanges can sign up only during the open enrollment period, which starting next year will run from approximately October 15 -- December 7 annually. Exceptions are made for qualifying life events like marriage or birth of child—not for sudden illnesses or accidents.

…It’s not just Fox doling out this irresponsible advice to millennials—conservative activist groups with ties to the billionaire Koch brothers have been running ads to scare young adults away from gaining coverage. At the same time, Fox has actively avoided acknowledging that many young adults are in fact eager to buy health insurance under new ACA provisions.

Far from challenging Benson’s irresponsible and misleading statement, Carlson exclaimed in the middle of it, “You just brought it full circle for us.” Even though Carlson's show is called "The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson."

I see the time coming when Faux calls the lower income young people who use the ER – as they were told by the GOTP – deadbeats when they can’t pay their bills. Then derides them for not signing up for the ACA. Unless you’re a member of the 1% club they have no use for you anyway. You can’t win.